Still Waters Run Deep
by Raziel12
Summary: The trip back to Konoha from the Land of Water was supposed to be boring. Funny how things never turn out the way they're supposed to. The ocean holds secrets better left forgotten, and what is dead may rise again. Naruto with a hint of Lovecraft.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Naruto's POV – Shadows and Stillness**

I wake up to shadows and stillness with the only sound in the small cabin my own ragged breathing. For just a moment, and it's a very long moment, I'm five years old again, running blindly down some grimy alley hoping, desperately hoping, that I'm not found that maybe this time they'll just leave me alone. But then I remember where I am and the relief that brings is so great that it's almost frightening. I'm eighteen now, not five, and I haven't been helpless for a very, very long time.

A sigh escapes my lips and I force myself to think, to try and grasp the last fading strands of the dream that woke me. It's not easy and already I can feel the dream slipping away, little more than a patchwork tapestry of fragmented sights and sounds. Maybe its foolish, but I've always liked trying to remember my dreams, especially the bad ones. I learned pretty early on that running from your fears never ends well. At best they come back to haunt you. At worst they come back to haunt everyone else too.

Fear.

Panic.

Death.

Those are the only things that I can remember from my dream and even then, they're more impressions, feelings, if you like, than actual memories. It's like trying to remember a mission report from a couple of months back. You can't remember the words exactly but you remember the gist of things.

I need to get out of here, maybe go out on deck and get some air to clear my head. The trip back from the Land of Water to the Land of Fire isn't a short one, even in the best of weather, and this ship isn't exactly the best either. I've got maybe a week, maybe a week and a half if the weather turns bad again, before I'm back on dry land and another week or so after that before I'm back in Konoha. The trip itself wouldn't be so bad if there was just something to do. But what can you do on a ship in the middle of the ocean? Not much, that's what.

It takes me a couple of minutes to get dressed – a man needs to look his best, and really there are some pretty good looking women on board – and then I'm out on deck. There are a fair number of other people already out there, and I can't say I blame them. It's nighttime and out here, away from all the bright city lights, the sky really is beautiful. It's like one big, black carpet studded with little gems for stars. Beneath the sky, the ocean is just one dark, rolling mass of waves and foam, all of it whipped by a gale so sharp that it's almost painful, but not quite.

There aren't many things that can make me keep too quiet for long, but there's just something about the combination of the shadows and stars, the whisper of the waves against the hull, and the biting wind that calls for quiet. I don't know how long I stay out there staring out across the ocean, but by the time I stop spacing out my hands are so cold that I can barely feel them and there's hardly anyone else left on deck.

I'm about to head back to my cabin, when I see it. It's a thick black blob low against the horizon and for a moment I think I must be seeing things. It looks like an island, and a pretty big one at that, but that can't be right. I may not be a genius but I did take the time to learn my geography, if only so that the Old Hag would stop bothering me about it. And there is no way that island is supposed to be there. Either we're way, way off course or that island has come out of nowhere. Frankly, I'm inclined to believe that it's the former, but I've seen too many crazy jutsu to just dismiss the latter.

I catch sight of one of the crewmembers. Good, he should have some idea of what's going on. "Hey," I ask. "What's that?"

He follows gaze to the island and shrugs. "That's odd. We're not scheduled to stop anywhere till we reach the Land of Fire."

"Tell you what, how about you go ask the captain or somebody what's going on?" He looks a little hesitant so I press a couple of ryo into his hand to seal the deal.

"Yeah, sure thing. Stay here and I'll be back in a minute."

The crewmember heads off towards the bridge and I turn my eyes back to the island. There's a sense of uneasiness creeping over me now, and the darkness and the waves don't seem so peaceful anymore. Somehow there's a menace to them that I never noticed before, and the churning mass of water over the side seems almost sinister, the foam twisting into shapes that for some reason send a shiver down my spine.

That's when it happens.

The crewmember I'd spoken to before is halfway across the deck and the look on his face is something close to controlled panic. He's muttering to himself and I just know the news can't be good. He looks up at me and is about to speak when the whole ship shudders. The impact knocks him off his feet and I hear as well as feel the shriek of mangled metal as the ship hits something, something huge.

Lights go on all over the ship as people try to get a glimpse of whatever it is that we've hit. I run to the side of the ship and peer over into the water. There's nothing there, nothing that I can see anyway. For a second I wonder if maybe we're under attack. But who'd attack us out here? No ninja would attack so far from land and besides, I don't think there's anything of value on the ship anyway. And if they were after me, they'd have organised the hit on land where they could confirm the kill.

And then I see them. They're almost invisible against the pitch-black waves: amorphous misshapen _things_ with matte black flesh that makes it impossible to tell just what shape they have as they drag themselves through the water toward the ship. One of them hits the hull with a thump and I glimpse a flash of claws and teeth, and slitted eyes before it begins to drag itself up toward the deck. Moments later there are two or three dozen other inky shapes alongside it and it takes everything I have not to scream when I finally catch a good look at one of them.

I'd glimpsed claws and teeth, and eyes before, and just assumed that they were all in the right places. But now, as one of them hauled itself up on to the deck I saw just how wrong I was. It had eyes alright, seven of them in fact, distributed unevenly across a gross, bloated, pulsing mass of black flesh. They spun crazily, looking in opposite directions, the slitted pupils a slash of black amidst a sea of pale amber. It reminds me of Orochimaru and for a moment I'm tempted to blame all of this on him. But he's been dead a long time, and even his creations bore some semblance, however weak, to the human form.

However there's nothing human about the teeth that jut crazily from the… the creature's black flesh, nothing human about the claws and talons that protrude from multi-jointed arms that bend and flex in ways nothing on earth should ever move. There's nothing sane or human either, about the scores of open mouths that line its flesh, each of them lined with dagger teeth, snapping and biting the empty air in warped staccato. Orochimaru might have been a crazy, evil, son of a bitch but even he wouldn't have had the guts to puts something like this creature together. I don't anyone who would.

The creature takes a step toward me and then another and almost faster than I can believe it lunges forward. I duck beneath an outstretch claw and leap away. I need to gather my thoughts, put together a plan…

The creature screams, a sound like a thousand nails being dragged across a chalkboard all at once, and I fall to my knees. To hell with a plan, I'll tear that thing to pieces with my bare hands.

More of the creatures pull themselves on to the deck and there's chaos, complete and utter chaos. In between dodging the damn thing's claws and teeth I see some of its creepy brethren grabbing passengers and leaping back over the side. They weren't killing them… interesting, and disturbing as all hell.

I try to keep it to hand-to-hand. A jutsu might sink the ship and who knows what else is down there if that's where these damn things are from. I have to give the creature points for toughness. It misses with one claw and I lash out, pulping one limb with a round house kick before severing another with a kunai. But it just keeps on coming, dragging the broken limbs along like it doesn't feel the pain. Maybe it doesn't.

Nothing for it then, I'll have to switch to jutsu. I can't use any of my flashier ones, so I'll stick with simple and effective. The chakra is swirling in my palm before I even finish the thought and I let myself smile. I've used this technique so many times I could do it in my sleep.

"Rasengan!"

The sphere of glowing blue chakra hits with a wet thump and I have to force myself not to turn away as the creature's flesh comes apart in a spray of vile ichor and mangled ebony flesh. This time, the creature shrieks – I must have hurt it – and tries to get away, but I follow it, the glowing orb of chakra in my hand ripping through flesh and blood and bone as easily as if the creature was made of paper. It's not dead though, and it lashes out blindly, nearly taking my head off with one its wayward claws. My response isn't pretty. I shove more charka into the rasengan and the sphere of destruction widens, becomes a writhing sun of raw force five feet wide. The creature practically explodes and I turn away to see if I can deal with the others.

What I see is hardly reassuring. There had to be close to fifty or sixty of those freaky things on board and more of them appearing every second. Even I couldn't take all of them on at once. If there were other ninja around – Neji's kaiten would be useful here – then it wouldn't be so bad, but on my own, not a chance.

But maybe I've spoken too soon. Most of the passengers are running or screaming or dying, but there's someone else on board who seems to know a thing or two about staying alive. She's got blonde hair, a little darker than mine, as well as a good figure, and if we weren't in the middle of a life and death battle against the ugliest things I've seen this side of hell I'd probably be hitting on her. After all, there's something really sexy about a woman who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and by dirty I mean she just used a katana to cut one of those things in half.

Another one of the creature's closes in on her from behind and I open my mouth to shout a warning, only she doesn't need one. Without even turning, her hands form the seals for a fire jutsu and the creature bursts like someone's filled its gut with exploding tags. Her control is good, really good, because the ship hardly rocks at all from the blast – she's centred the technique almost perfectly on her opponent.

Our eyes meet for a moment before her gaze flicks over my shoulder. I bite back a curse. I've gotten careless, and even without turning I know that one of those creatures is behind me. I palm a kunai and roll out of the way, throwing it as I go. It catches the creature in one of its eyes and it roars, hardly impressed. But then, the kunai was never supposed to stop it. That job was up to the exploding tag hanging off it.

Boom.

The creature hurtled back, smashing through the deck railing before it plummeted back into the ocean below. I give myself a moment to smirk. Exploding tags are one of the reasons I started looking into seals, that and the nine-tailed incarnation of pure malevolence I have inside me.

"Let me go!"

I turn and my eyes go wide. One of the crewmembers is brandishing a burning torch and flailing wildly at one of the creatures. That in itself wouldn't have been so bad – and really I could hardly blame him for trying to defend himself – were it not for the barrels of fuel stacked neatly no more than a few steps away from him.

"Put that out!" It's the other ninja and it's clear that she's reached the same conclusion I have. That guy is going to get us all killed and I, and presumably she, have no intention of dying just yet.

The crewmember turns, finally realising what he's waving around and where. He moves to extinguish the torch but the creature lurches forward, one claw lancing forward. The spiked limb pierces the man's leg and continues on, burying itself in one of the barrels of fuel. The acrid scent of fuel fills the air as the barrel's contents spill across the deck.

"My leg!" the crewmember screams, his breathing ragged, his eyes wild. "My leg!" And then on instinct he reaches down with both hands to try and stem the bleeding. And drops the torch… into the quickly spreading pool of fuel.

The effect is immediate and devastating. Before I can even think of what to do the barrels of fuel explode. A wave of heat rushes past, so hot that it's like my lungs are on fire and every breath is like trying to breathe through molten lava. The next thing I know I'm flying, falling, cursing, and there's a sound like the ending of the world as the ships splits in half and bits of wood and metal go flying everywhere.

I hit the water and the force of my fall drives the breath from my lungs. Water surrounds me and I kick and claw for the surface. I'm halfway there when something grabs my leg and I look down and find myself staring into seven slit eyes. I almost scream. Almost. At the last second I remember where I am and realise that opening my mouth would be a very, very bad idea. Instead I shove as much chakra into my legs as I can and kick, kick, kick at the creature grabbing my leg.

Finally the creature let's go and I'm free and I swim up for the surface with everything I've got. I just break the surface when I see something – a piece of debris, I guess – come flying through the air toward me. My lungs are on fire and my body feels like someone just took a sledgehammer to it. So it's no surprise at all when I'm just a fraction too slow to dodge.

The last thing I see before the darkness claims me is the bow of the ship jutting out of the water. Bathed in flames and moonlight, it seems almost like a skeletal claw straining for the sky. Then everything turns black and the world goes still.

X X X X

Author's Notes

Standard Disclaimer: I neither own Naruto, nor am I making a dime off of this.

Well… that was certainly different. I don't normally write in first person, but I felt that given the content it was probably the best option. That said, I think the tone is certainly different from most of the other Naruto stuff that I've written (if anything it's closer to the tone of my Sailor Moon stories). I can definitely tell you that this story won't be sunshine and lollipops with kittens and puppies dancing around in a field of flowers. If you're wondering who the other ninja is, we'll get to that soon enough (in fact, her identity means that this story is technically an AU).

As always, keep in touch. I appreciate your feedback.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Naruto's POV – Whispering Woods and Kitty Cats**

My head feels like a thousand pieces of broken glass and when I finally get the strength together to open my eyes it's almost like I can actually see the pain. I feel a wave of nausea well up and it's a miracle I manage to roll over on to my side so that I don't choke on my own vomit. I retch for what feels like forever although my stomach is empty after the first minute or so.

It takes me a few more minutes before I'm ready to try and stand and it's times like this I'm thankful – grudgingly – that I've got the fox on my side. I don't know exactly where I am or how I got here, but I'm pretty most other people would have died back there in the water. The fox is powerful, I'll give him that, and he's not about to let me die if he can help it even though keeping me alive must have cost more chakra than even I can begin to imagine, hence the nausea. Knowing him he probably could have gotten rid of that too, but the bastard probably enjoyed watching me puke my guts out.

Now that I can stand it is time to work out where I am. And so I look around and I can't quite stop the shiver that runs down my spine at what I see. The first thing that I see is the sun. It's a dull, ugly brown, almost like I'm seeing the sky through a haze of dried blood. Judging from its position, it's a little past noon, but the sunshine doesn't feel the least bit warm on my skin. If anything, it feels… off, like the scales of a serpent brushing past. The beach that I'm on is little better. There's nothing but sand as far as I can see, matte black and vaguely unsettling, and the water near the shore moves with the sluggish consistency of clotting blood. And then there's the smell. I didn't notice it before because I was throwing up, but I notice it now. It's the smell of death and looking more closely at where the waves wash up onto the sand I can see why. All of the fish are dead, their scaled bodies limp, their eyes wide and glassy, slowly putrefying as the waves move them back and forth against the sand.

It doesn't take a genius to see that I can't stay here. It's too open and it's near the water and I know those _things_ from the ship can swim and I'm not stupid enough to think myself in the clear just yet. So instead I turn from the ocean and make for the trees. The trees, I think, that seem every bit as wrong as the beach, the trees that move and sway and sigh even though the wind is little more than a whisper, a whisper that brings memories of fangs, and claws, and wild, slit-pupil eyes.

The mass of trees is dense and I can't help but feel a little bit dirty as I leap from branch to branch. There is a strangeness to the wood here, something I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps the wood is a little too soft, with too much give in it. It feels less like wood, I think, and more like flesh. The colours are wrong too, the browns are too brown and the greens are too green, and it's tempting to close my eyes, because looking at those colours hurts, as if they were never meant to be. But it's the quiet that unsettles me most, the utter stillness save for my own movement and the semi-somnolent whisper of the trees.

I pick through the trees at a fair pace, looking for higher ground. At the very least, I need to know if I'm on that island I spotted from the ship, and if I am, I need to know just how big it is. But it's hard. The trees might be tall, but the higher up I go, the denser, more tangled the branches become. The voices get louder too, and by the time I reach the canopy, the forest isn't whispering anymore, it's screaming. I try, just once to cut my way through the canopy and after that I decided that maybe walking on the ground is better. There is something chilling about hearing a tree weep with each blow of the kunai, something soul numbing about seeing a tree bleed, thick rivulets of black-red blood welling up from each chip in the wood, the blood coming in spurts in time to the beating of my frantic heart.

It's hours before I hear something other than the trees. It starts with a sound not unlike dripping water.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound is so soft, so subtle, that I can barely hear it. In fact, I'm not sure if I can really hear it at all. And all around me the trees continue to whisper, although there's something different to their whispers now, an undercurrent of hate and fear.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound is louder now, not a drip anymore, but a pulse, the beating of some inhuman heart. It's like thunder in my ears and I realise, for the first time, that the trees have fallen silent, that their branches have fallen still, and the only sounds that aren't in my head are my own ragged gasps. Before I know it, I'm running, my hands clapped over my ears, screaming inside my head but the sound is still there and it seems to come from every direction all at once.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump

Ba-bump.

Ba… bump.

And then it stops. Just… stops. When I finally stop running I can see sand again. It's matte black sand and the water is just like I remember it, a thick, viscous ooze heavy with the corpses of rotting dead fish. For one insane moment I wonder if I've just gone in a complete circle, but then I realise that the shoreline is different, that there are rocks, jagged and black, like fragments of the night sky tossed to earth, littering the sand. Wherever I am, it is somewhere other than where I began and that at least, is a start. But then I freeze, because something is coming out of the water.

It's one of those creatures from before and a sense of horror, so great that it's all I can do not to cry out, washes over me. It is one thing for such monsters to emerge at night, when the waning light of the moon can only hint at the madness of their form, when the darkness is still deep enough to hide what the world should never see. It is quite another thing to see them in the full light of day, to see those eyes and claws, and teeth shimmer with tenebrous menace beneath a blood red sun, to see the roiling mass of twisted black flesh heaving like some vast ocean of impossible corruption.

The creature's body opens up – a closet of mangled bone and jagged teeth – and one of the people from the ship drops out. Too horrified to move, I can only watch as the creature runs its claws over the woman's body, touching, probing, and testing. It is checking, I realise, to see if she's alive. I can only hope, for her sake, that she is not. Unfortunately, she is. The woman stirs, wakes, and screams. Or tries to. I see her mouth open and close in a single convulsive moment of absolute terror but no sound comes out. The creature looks at her, its enormous bulk shifting from side to side, its claws digging lightly into the sand. Finally she screams, a long, shrieking wail, before the creature opens up again, it's insides dripping with sharpness and shadows, and then she is gone. But her scream lingers, echoing past the beach and into the forest behind me.

At last I can move and the first thought in my head is to run. But there is only one of those things and I know they can be killed. If that woman is still alive… So I force myself to turn and look at the creature straight on. If I cannot even look at it there is no way that I can kill it. For several long moments, I stand there, hidden in the trees that line the beach, as my inside twist and the nausea and horror well up like the vile waves against the shore. At last, I feel the beginnings of control return. I need to move now, before commonsense and cowardice get the better of me.

But then the waters part and there are more of those things. One by one they emerge from the miasma of putrid water and dead fish. My mind whirls at the cavalcade of misshapen flesh, of shapes that no normal creature could ever have, and that no sane world would ever suffer to exist. It is too much and there are too many of them. So I run, and run, and run as deep as I can back into the forest. I hear the screams as I go and try not to think about why they might need those people alive.

It's hours before I stop running, and by then it's nearly sunset. The hissing sigh of the trees and the shifting movements of their branches are still unsettling, but they are preferable by far to the things I'd seen at the beach. I need to find something to eat – though if there's anything safe to eat in this damned place, I can't be sure – and a place to hide for the night as well.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound is back again.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

I swallow and slowly, quietly, reach for a kunai. Then I move, stalking quickly through the forest as the pulsing throb that only I can hear grows louder in my head. They're close, it seems to say, so close. The trees are wailing now, shrieking and laughing, and jerking about like puppets without strings. And then, through the coming darkness of dusk and the shuddering trees, I see it, clear as day.

A flash of white.

I break into a run.

Another flash of white.

Jutsu.

Fire.

Fire hot enough to fuse sand into glass and then some.

I explode into the clearing and there she is, the ninja from before. She is magnificent. There's blood all over her shirt and an ugly gash along one leg, and her eyes, slightly slanted, I realise now that I'm a bit closer, are a shade so dark that I can't tell if they're onyx or simply a blue, or green, or purple so dark that they might as well be black. But it's the look in her eyes that catches my attention. They are shining like twin ebony stars, filled with a mix of fury, hatred, and raw defiance that stirs something inside me – inside the fox – that is five parts blood lust and five parts pure admiration. There are five of the creatures around her, and the bloodied remains of what look like three or four more scattered around the clearing. There is fire everywhere, on the ground, on the trees, in the air, and I know that it won't be long before more of those creatures show up. My mind is made up even before I know it. She's a ninja and strong, to boot, so this is actually a battle that we can win. I might be strong, but I'm arrogant enough to believe that an extra pair of hands won't help later on. Besides, it's not like I have to hold back now. It's easier too, to fight these things when you can't see them so well. Your eyes don't see enough to be truly afraid, your mind doesn't have information to realise that what you're fighting against shouldn't even exist in the first place.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

My attack hits one of the creatures with a howl. The winds lift the creature up off the ground and throw it backwards, the sheer force of the blast driving it through tree after tree, a thick cloud of dust rising in its wake. The other creatures look up, startled, and it's all the invitation that she needs.

Her hands flash through some seals. "Raiton: Jibashi."

The thought comes crazy, as it is at a time like this, that I like her voice. It's a woman's voice, not a girl's, not quiet, but not loud either, more like self-assured.

A stream of lightning crackles from her fingertips and one of the creature's lights up, its whole body wreathed in electricity. The acrid scent of ozone fills the air, along with some other, subtler yet infinitely more horrific smell: it's a mix of sulphur and ash, of old blood and tar. Whatever these things are made of, it's isn't normal.

The remaining three split: two of them on me, one of them on her. I give ground, letting one claw pass harmlessly over my head as the creatures lunge forward together. Their teamwork nearly takes me by surprise. They are big and they are fast, but their claws and teeth make them look awkward, and it seems inconceivable that these two clumps of unearthly wrongness might actually be able to work together. But they do. One of them becomes a storm of teeth, trying to pin me down beneath its bulk, dozens of mouths biting and slavering with putrid ichor. The other tries to get behind me, its eyes rolling wildly as its claws swipe at the air just shy of my neck.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

The words slip from my mouth on instinct as I summon three clones. Any more would be pointless. These things are so close that they'd only get in the way. Two of my clones turn to grapple with the creature behind me, the other joins me in attacking the one in front of me.

My shadow clone leaps straight at the creature, throwing shuriken all the way. They don't do much, but they catch the creature's eye. Whatever these things are, they can't tell shadow clones apart from the original and that brings me no small measure of relief.

"Fuuton: Juha Reppu Sho!"

My right hand lashes out as the chakra I've poured into the technique takes solid form. A huge spectral claw, fox-like and tinged scarlet, lashes out to grab the creature. There is a hiss like hot iron plunged into cold water, as the chakra-laden wind bites into the creature's flesh. For a moment I regret my choice of technique. The claw is more than just a projection of my hand, there's feedback too, and the creature's flesh feels like thousands of maggots crammed together. I squeeze and hear the snap of countless bones as the ghostly claw mimics the action and crushes the creature in its grip. I toss the mangled carcass aside and turn to face the last of the creatures attacking me.

The claw fades – it takes far too much chakra to use for more than a moment – so I switch to exploding tags instead. My clones converge on the creature and its limbs become a storm of striking talons and claws. One of the clones is dispelled instantly, and the other two don't last much longer. But they serve their purpose. Two explosive tags, attached to kunai, bite into the creature's flesh and by the time the explosion clears, there really isn't all that much left behind.

And then there's just the two of us. For a moment the woman says nothing, merely contemplates me with those slanted eyes of hers as she uses some bandages to dress the wound on her leg. We need to go now before more of those things get here but she won't say a word and I can't help but notice the guarded look that's crept onto her face. She's measuring me up, I realise with shock. She can't seriously be thinking of fighting me, can she?

At last she speaks. "Why did you help me?"

"Because you were the only one I could help."

Her eyes narrow and I think for a moment that she might be angry, but then she speaks again, and her voice is soft and filled with something that might be regret or maybe shame. "There were others… other people, I mean… but I couldn't help them. There were too many of… of those things." Her eyes flick to the ruined carcass of the creature at her feet. "So I ran."

"I know." The words hurt for me to say, but I need to say them every bit as much she needs to hear them. "So did I."

She chuckles and if there's an edge of hysteria to it, neither of us choose to say anything. "What's your name?"

I think about giving a false name, but at this point, what does it matter? "Naruto Uzumaki." I pause before adding, "We should probably stick together. We've got a better chance that way."

She stiffens but nods and then moves past me into the forest. "Well then, come on. We need to get out of here."

"Wait!" I shout even as I follow her into the forest, away from the clearing, wondering at how easily she agreed and if maybe it's a trap. "What's your name?"

A rueful grin is on her face when she turns to answer. "Yugito Nii."

Ah, so that's how it is. Her cooperation makes more sense now. After all, us jinchuriki need to stick together.

X X X X

Author's Notes

Standard Disclaimer: I neither own Naruto, nor am I making a dime off of this.

Okay… so that was chapter two. By now, I think, the influence of Lovecraft is becoming a bit more apparent. Certainly, there were elements to the forest and the beach that I feel fit well with the sort of imagery that he employs (to say nothing of the creatures), imagery that I think fits quite well with the Naruto universe, especially if you take a darker view of Naruto. That said, as you can see I don't quite agree with Lovecraft's view (or rather the position that he often puts forward in his stories) that humans can do nothing more than cower in the face of unspeakable horror. Naruto was never one for cowering, but he's not a complete idiot either. He knows that there are times when you should just run. What remains to be seen, however, is just how effective any action he takes will be.

For those of you wondering about Sailor Moon: Requiem, don't worry I'm still working on it. I have a chapter in the works, but it's tricky and I want to make sure that I get things right.

As always, keep in touch. I appreciate your feedback and look forward to your reviews.

A note about jutsus – I watched the anime in Japanese (with subs, of course) and read the manga through scanlations. As such I've gotten used to seeing jutsu names in Japanese. Keeping the jutsu names in Japanese also seems to be the standard in Naruto fanfiction, so I've decided to do likewise. That said, here are the jutsus in English (translations from the Naruto wikia):

Fuuton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Raiton Jibashi – Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique

Fuuton: Juha Reppu Sho – Wind Release: Beast Wave Violet Wind Palm


End file.
